WEEDSPORT, NY (June 24, 2022) – The opening round of Weedsport Kartway’s Thursday Night Thunder took the green flag on Thursday evening with the running of the Pencils Down Showdown. Nearly 70 entries took advantage of a beautiful night to open the summer season.
Nigel Pendykoski was the star of the show in his No. 78 machine, sweeping main events in Jr. Blue Clone and Jr. Unrestricted.
Pendykoski topped Riley Begy, Corban Dubois and Ian McLaughlin in Blue, before coming from the rear of the field in Unrestricted to claim victory over Casey Pietrzak, William Young, Rylynn Bain and Aidan McCollister.
Pendykoski now has three career Weedsport victories, tied for eighth on The Short Port’s all-time Junior win list.
Other Junior winners included Luke Holmes (Jr. Red Clone), Levi Herriven (Jr. Green Clone) and Savannah Simmons (Jr. Purple Clone).
Simmons’ win in Purple came by way of a last corner pass in lapped traffic to edge out Parker Allen, who had lead the first 14-laps of the race.
Clone Light once again provided a stacked field of 18 entries, which were split into three heat races to determine the starting lineup for the 20-lap main event.
Sabrina Palmer, Seth Whitney and Chris Natoli all won qualifiers to start in the front three spots with Whitney and Natoli diving to the early race lead.
Whitney and Natoil would prove to be the class of the field over the duration of the event with Tanner Emmons joining their runaway in the closing laps. Whitney, Natoli and Emmons would finish in podium positions, nearly a full second ahead of Thomas Montgomery and Palmer in the top five.
Clone Heavy once again featured a battle between Natoli and Whitney, but this time in reverse order as Natoli lead the way to victory. The 1-2 run of Natoli and Whitney cleared Jamie Shutts in third by over 4-seconds with Montgomery and Emmons again in the top five spots.
Clone Super Heavy featured a first career win for Weedsport veteran Chance Weaver in the No. 45. Weaver battled former James Shutts Memorial champion Jason Moll early on, before running away from Josh Ostrander for the win.
Weedsport Kartway returns to action for the second round of Thursday Night Thunder on Thursday, July 14 with the running of the All-Star Shootout.
Visit www.weedsportspeedway.com or follow Weedsport Kartway via Facebook at www.facebook.com/weedsportkartway and Twitter @WeedsportSpdwy for more information.
About Weedsport Speedway: Officially opened for the first time on July 24, 1955 – the Weedsport Speedway 3/8 mile dirt oval has produced a legendary list of drivers and champions including Will Cagle, Danny Johnson, Bob McCreadie, Alan Johnson, Jack Johnson, and Dave Lape to name a few. In 2018, Weedsport introduced the all-new Weedsport Kartway, just outside of the Speedway’s main pit area, to begin to foster the next generation of racers, crew members and race fans. Couple the racing with state-of-the-art camping and track amenities, unmatched on-site television production capabilities, plus the ability for large scale concert productions and Weedsport is one of the marquee entertainment venues in the country.
Weedsport Kartway
Weedsport, NY
Pencils Down Showdown
Thursday, June 23
Box Score (64 Entries)
Jr. Red Clone
Heat #1 (6-laps): 1. 77J – James Kreidler, 2. 8 – Luke Holmes, 3. 98 – Mason Simmons, 4. 44 – Derek Bird
Heat #2 (6-laps): 1. 42 – Liam Pakenham, 2. 50B – Ryan Barry, 3. 60 – Bryson Gill
Feature (15-laps): 1. 8 – LUKE HOLMES, 2. 98 – Mason Simmons, 3. 44 – Derek Bird, 4. 50B – Ryan Barry, 5. 42 – Liam Pakenham, 6. 60 – Bryson Gill, 7. 77J – James Kreidler
Jr. Green Clone
Heat #1 (6-laps): 1. 20 – Levi Herriven, 2. 12 – Olivia Barry, 3. 9 – Addisyn Roger, 4. 923 – Chandler Remp
Feature (15-laps): 1. 20 – LEVI HERRIVEN, 2. 9 – Addisyn Roger, 3. 12 – Olivia Barry, 4. 923 – Chandler Remp
Jr. Purple Clone
Heat #1 (6-laps): 1. 20 – Parker Allen, 2. 99 – Timmy Axton, 3. 31 – Cody Stebbins, 4. 98 – Savannah Simmons, 5. 27 – Blake Banek
Feature (15-laps): 1. 98 – SAVANNAH SIMMONS, 2. 20 – Parker Allen, 3. 31 – Cody Stebbins, 4. 99 – Timmy Axton, 5. 27 – Blake Banek
Jr. Blue Clone
Heat #1 (6-laps): 1. 78 – Nigel Pendykoski, 2. 10R – Riley Begy, 3. 33 – Corban Dubois, 4. 48 – Ian McLaughlin
Feature (15-laps): 1. 78 – NIGEL PENDYKOSKI, 2. 10R – Riley Begy, 3. 33 – Corban Dubois, 4. 48 – Ian McLaughlin
Jr. Unrestricted
Heat #1 (6-laps): 1. 54 – Casey Pietrzak, 2. 10R – Riley Begy, 3. 8RY – Rylynn Bain, 4. 96 – Brian Kline
Heat #2 (6-laps): 1. 83 – Owen Heath, 2. 13 – William Young, 3. 69 – Aidan McCollister, 4. 78 – Nigel Pendykoski
Feature (15-laps): 1. 78 – NIGEL PENDYKOSKI, 2. 54 – Casey Pietrzak, 3. 13 – William Young, 4. 8RY – Rylynn Bain, 5. 69 – Aidan McCollister, 6. 10R – Riley Begy, 7. 83 – Owen Heath, 8. 96 – Brian Kline
Clone Light
Heat #1 (8-laps): 1. 87 – Sabrina Palmer, 2. 24 – Thomas Montgomery, 3. 82 – David Hackett, 4. 10D – Dylan Begy, 5. 14 – Brittney Hackett, 6. 22S – Seth Bennett
Heat #2 (8-laps): 1. 505 – Seth Whitney, 2. 7K – Anthony Scott, 3. 11 – Devin McGill, 4. 69 – John Palmieri, 5. 01 – Seth Perrin, 6. 51 – Justin Larsen, 7. 61 – Jermey Shelley
Heat #3 (8-laps): 1. 33 – Chris Natoli, 2. 22T – Tanner Emmons, 3. 47 – Matt Matteson, 4. 8 – Sean Simmons, 5. 88H – Chris Hulsizer
Feature (20-laps): 1. 505 – SETH WHITNEY, 2. 33 – Chris Natoli, 3. 22T – Tanner Emmons, 4. 24 – Thomas Montgomery, 5. 87 – Sabrina Palmer, 6. 82 – David Hackett, 7. 88H – Chris Hulsizer, 8. 47 – Matt Matteson, 9. 8 – Sean Simmons, 10. 22S – Seth Bennett, 11. 11 – Devin McGill, 12. 14 – Brittney Hackett, 13. 69 – John Palmieri, 14. 7K – Anthony Scott, 15. 61 – Jermey Shelley, 16. 10D – Dylan Begy, 17. 51 – Justin Larsen, 18. 01 – Seth Perrin
Clone Heavy
Heat #1 (8-laps): 1. 24 – Thomas Montgomery, 2. 505 – Seth Whitney, 3. 13 – Nick McGill, 4. 545 – Adam Collins, 5. 7 – Landon Dubois, 6. 74 – Josh Ostrander
Heat #2 (8-laps): 1. 33 – Chris Natoli, 2. 12 – Owen Bird, 3. 82 – David Hackett, 4. 01 – Seth Perrin, 5. 22T – Tanner Emmons, 6. 00M – Jamie Shutts
Feature (20-laps): 1. 33 – CHRIS NATOLI, 2. 505 – Seth Whitney, 3. 00M – Jamie Shutts, 4. 24 – Thomas Montgomery, 5. 22T – Tanner Emmons, 6. 12 – Owen Bird, 7. 8 – Tyler Thompson, 8. 82 – David Hackett, 9. 74 – Josh Ostrander, 10. 545 – Adam Collins, 11. 01 – Seth Perrin, 12. 7 – Landon Dubois, 13. 13 – Nick McGill
Clone Super Heavy
Heat #1 (8-laps): 1. 45 – Chance Weaver, 2. 10X – Jason Moll, 3. 74 – Josh Ostrander, 4. 4W – Logan Winn
Feature (20-laps): 1. 45 – CHANCE WEAVER, 2. 74 – Josh Ostrander, 3. 10X – Jason Moll, 4. 4W – Logan Winn